"What's going on here?" "Where am I?" "Are they all me?" "Why can't they see me?"
Azzy fired questions nonstop to his older self as he wasn't able to connect with the Reaper.
The Demigod Azrael opened his mouth after his younger self finished with the questions. "Okay, if you are done, then, let me explain what's going on, Azrael."
As Azzy nodded, his older self continued, "This is called Time Stream or Time Corridor, a place in the null dimension where the creation of this universe happened.
The doors you are seeing are the gateways to various timelines. The right ones are to the past and the left ones are to the future. I wouldn't recommend the left ones though. After all, there are stronger versions of you who will take care of it.
And it is not that they can't see you, but they just cannot see anyone. If you ever visit this place later, then, you won't see anyone too and will feel like you are alone.
Anyway, as time passed, you will slowly get to learn how to become the guardian of the timeline but first things first, let me remove those couple of memories that Chronos locked away."
"Eh?" Azzy was naturally taken aback by his words. The Reaper usually does such things only to protect him. So, he couldn't help but wonder whether it is okay for him to unlock them. Should he ask the Reaper, just in case? After all, the Reaper did warn him to be a bit wary of the older Azrael.
However, before the thought even escaped his mouth, the older Azrael removed the seal on Azzy's memories with a snap of his finger, and Azzy remembered a couple of things he don't remember having in the conversation he had last time with the older self.
The first thing he learned about was the death of the Night clan's assassin, which explains the presence of the extra rank-6 skeleton.
The second memory is about the knowledge of having a one-time use mystic seal imparted to him by the older Azrael. It is a trump card that has an unknown purpose.
The third memory is about how his older self consumed the powers of Reaper and Protos energy.
The fourth memory is about how his older self met several versions of him, who for some reason, never made it to the original timeline.
The final missing memory is about his emotions that are actually locked away by the Reaper on purpose, right from the beginning, not because of the side effect of awakening.
If Azzy was the same guy from the Champions League final, he would have gotten angry but now, it's different. The bond between him and the Reaper is far stronger and Azzy was more understanding of this divine grade Arcana's actions.
Trying to be calm as possible, he said, "You imparted me the knowledge of invoking this mystic seal but I have no idea when to use it or what will it happen when I unleash it onto the enemy."
"It's good that Chronos never got the opportunity to use this seal. That means you haven't attracted trouble from any Supreme Being (peak-rank-9)," commented the older Azrael in response before he went on to explain the seal and its properties.
"The mystic seal basically contained a portion of my power, which will make you experience the strength of a Demigod for a brief period of 60 seconds. However, the seal doesn't represent just power.
You see, for a Demigod to attain the status of godhood, one of the requirements is to master all the twelve laws of the universe. And if you experience the strength of Demigod, you will start experiencing it. That means you can have a head start compared to other Demigods. This is why it would be better for you to experience it rather than letting Chronos use that strength to defeat your enemies."
"Twelve laws of the universe? What are they?" Azzy turned curious.
The older Azrael answered, "The twelve laws are something that is known to mankind from the very beginning but people just fail to understand them properly."
First: Law of Oneness.
Second: Law of Aura Frequency.
Third: Law of Repetition.
Fourth: Law of Attraction.
Fifth: Law of inspiration.
Sixth: Law of Perpetual transmutation of energy.
Seventh: Law of Cause and Effect.
Eighth: Law of Compensation.
Ninth: Law of Neutrality.
Tenth: Law of Polarity.
Eleventh: Law of Rhythm.
Twelfth: Law of Gender.
*
"Under the influence of Chronos, you have already begun to master the second law and ninth law without knowing its exact purpose. But, you are too inexperienced to understand them properly. Anyway, even I have a long way to go. So, no need to worry about it.
Is there anything else you wish to know?"
Azzy thought for a while and said, "First, tell me the rules of using this time stream. I mean like how do I access this place, how to tell which timeline is which, etc…"
"I have already informed the rules of time travel. So, there's not much to say about this place. If you still like to hear, I will explain a thing or two," replied the older Azrael.
Without waiting for Azzy's approval, he then started to explain, "As you already know, this place is called Time Stream. It is like a time record. The stronger you are, the more access you will have. At your current strength, you can't access the records but you will be able to travel for 27 years back and forward from your original timeline."
"Wait a second…" Azzy interrupted his future counterpart and asked, "That means, if I use the hourglass, I cannot go back past? The last time you told me that my original timeline never stops and is constantly moving forward whether I time traveled or not."
"Not exactly but your assumption is correct." The older Azrael then clarified the matter, "Generally, you can only time travel when you are in the original timeline. Since you are already in an interim timeline, you cannot use it to go back to the past or future, although you can still erase the timeline by using the 'Rewind' soul skill as you have done on a few occasions during the past 22 months."
"I see," Azzy nodded in understanding. "Well, I don't have any reason to go back to further past anyways. So, no big deal…"
The older Azrael then raised his hand to conjure a pocket watch out of thin air, "this is called time messenger. You would acquire it eventually at some point in the future. I can't say how. It will be decided by fate.
Anyway, once you acquire it, you will finally start your job as a time guardian. Our job is simple. Keep the timeline intact. How should it be done will be explained when you are qualified. Regarding this job, you have no choice but to accept it.
If you don't, then, you will unnecessarily create several branches of the timeline of Gaia, which will only consume her divine energy to maintain those worlds. When much of her concentration will be on this planet, all the countless planets with lives will go into the path of destruction.
Okay, let's not go into those complex things and finish this conversation. As I have already mentioned earlier, this time corridor is actually located in the null dimension. That means there is no time flow here.
At your present condition, you have no use of this place except for traveling through time but once you make a breakthrough to rank 9, you will get access to a time chamber, which you can use for training purposes.
And according to my master, after I enter the realm of god, in theory, I could open a gateway to the Null dimension of the parallel universe through the zero point. But, even I have yet to reach that level. You have a long way to go. So, no need to worry about it and just train harder.
Before you leave, I will once again warn you to not go to the future. It is not just because you are useless to a stronger version of yourself but it is also because of protecting your mind.
If you see the future, you will want to change your present, and that creates several anomalies in the timeline. If we can't fix the timeline, then, we will be forced to eliminate you to reset the timeline until you take the correct path, following the law of repetition."
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